Abluvion
by sapphireswimming
Summary: Maddie is many things. At the moment, delirious happens to be one of them.


**Laora wanted a Maddie and Phantom fic where Danny was delirious and but instead I wrote one where Maddie was. If / when I get around to writing the original idea, I'll probably post it as part two, but I can't make any promises. ;)**

**And given that Maddie is delirious, be advised that this is necessarily stream of consciousness and artsy and grammatically incorrect and all that jazz.**

**Also, I wanted to apologize that my writing's been so dark and angsty lately. I know a lot of you don't mind at all, but for others, it's not your cup of tea. All I can say is that you get whatever I happen write and I can't help it that this is what has been coming out recently, but rest assured that I have plenty of happier things in the works as well. You just need to give the mental cogs enough time to turn. And… a lot has been coming out recently. Eesh, I didn't mean to clog your inboxes; I just post a lot when stuff happens in real life. :P**

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**Abluvion**

_noun, substance or things which are washed away_

September 13, 2013

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Maddie is many things.

She is a scientist, able to research and measure and understand and calculate and theorize about things that send most people's heads spinning. She is a wife to a husband who would do anything for her and a mother to two children she would do anything for. She is an inventor, developing concepts for tools and gadgets and drawing out the blueprints with a steady hand and tinkering with the models until they are glitch-free. She is also a warrior, a fighter skilled in hand to hand combat as well as wielding the weapons she has created.

It is in this capacity that she excels. It is as a ghost hunter that she is able to reach her full potential: scientist, mother, inventor, fighter all in one fell swoop.

Her skills are honed and sharp and she seems to come more and more alive with the thrill of the chase, the tracking, the deadly dance as weapons fly and she knows that she will win and bring yet another evil creature down and out for the count. She rarely misses.

She's somehow able to keep track of where everyone and everything is at the same time, knowing when to dodge and when striking will inflict the most possible damage to her opponent. Her enemy. Her quarry. Her prey.

This ghost flies in front of her unexpectedly, but is unable to take her unawares. She has skidded to the side in order to avoid ectoblasts and drawn out the Fenton Fisher from her utility belt to retaliate.

Maddie pulls its tangled lines back while running for cover as the ghost flies through the brick walls after her. She knows that she can't recoil it in time so she turns to another option. A pocket blaster, which sends out a thin green stream of concentrated energy. It disorients the floating shape, but only for a moment before it finds her again.

Little by little, she is able to disorient it, run to a different location, and work the Fenton Thermos free from around her waist. She knows it is the most efficient way to end this for good.

But there are only so many places she can run to hide on a street this open. She is looking for another good spot when something catches her attention out of the corner of her eye. A blur of black and white and sickly green. The only too-familiar shape of the town's worst menace. It's Phantom. He has come to join the fight and this will complicate things and she turns back to reevaluate her battle plan with a new ghost to manage only to find that she has lost her primary target.

The ghost is gone. She turns back toward the alleyway between the buildings only to find it empty. It isn't here anymore. It has—

Maddie can't hear anything. Blood is pounding in her ears and it's throbbing so strongly that she thinks she should be able to hear it, but she can't. It feels as if a large white blanket has been placed over her ears and no noise will dare penetrate such a shield. Except for a tiny buzzing noise that is beginning in the back of her skull.

She shakes her head to hear it better. Or clear it. She isn't sure which. But when she moves her head, the world goes fuzzy for a moment, then blurs.

It doesn't feel like she is falling, but she must have done because the next thing she is aware of is that she is no longer standing up. She is on the ground. On the concrete sidewalk behind the building. The gravel is pressing against the side of her face, strangely indenting the soft skin. It doesn't hurt yet, but she knows that it will become uncomfortable soon. She should get up. Why would she be on the ground in the first place? She can't remember a reason…

But she can't get up. She can hardly move at all. One hand is trapped beneath her and doesn't seem to want to move. She thinks about rolling over to get off of it, but for some reason, it seems like an incredibly enormous task. She's so heavy and stiff and tired and she blinks as she registers movement in front of her.

Two people are fighting. People shouldn't be fighting in the streets. She should put a stop to this right now. Well, at least as soon as she gets up. But they're very strange people. They're moving around so quickly that she can't seem to follow their movements. But that might just be because she has such a headache right now that it feels as if her brain is swimming in her skull. But still, such strange people fighting and they should stop and she tries to yell at them but her voice doesn't seem to want to do more than whisper and they don't hear it so she coughs and wonders if the figures look green because she's starting to feel nauseous along with battered and bruised and sick and sore and tired and heavy and lightheaded and she should really get up.

She blinks heavily and concentrates on the hand that is free, lying out in front of her, curled up against the asphalt. She wills it to move, but the most it does is twitch. There is no way it will hold her weight. And then she can't remember why it should. She wanted to… get up… fighting… she needed to do something… but it was so nice here, even though the rocks were pressing into her face.

She nestles down into them, humming in contentment as she feels her body shutting down and letting her relax. She's so very tired and this is a very nice place to sleep.

But for some reason, she can't. She's pulled awake by something. She doesn't know what and it takes her a long time to realize that opening her eyes might help her in that regard. Blinking up, she sees a face. Sometimes it looks miles away and other times it only looks a few inches away. How curious.

The mouth was moving, saying something. Or shouting something, because now something is rattling jarringly through her head and she doesn't like it but can't make out the words to figure out how to respond. She peers harder at the person in front of her, as if seeing them more clearly will make her understand what is being said.

The light is bright behind the person and it blinds her for a minute, makes it hard to find the face again, but when she does, she smiles. She recognizes it. She would know it anywhere. It's Danny. Her little boy.

She tries to say his name. But he shouldn't be here where it's not safe because other people are fighting.

He looks like he wants to leave. That's good. Wants to take her with him. He reaches out a hand and touches her and suddenly she can't think of anything but white hot pain everywhere. It's a long time before she can breathe and so she stares out ahead of her seeing nothing but red. Red covering Danny's glove. That's… that's blood.

Is he… hurt. He must be but no, he's pulling her up toward him and everything hurts and she must be the one who is injured. She hadn't even known.

She didn't want him to see her like this so she tried to push away but was too weak to do much and even that small effort hurt. So she gave in and nestled herself closer to him, resting her head against his black shirt.

It feels like they are moving, but it's not hurting so much anymore. It's getting colder, though, and the wind is blowing, putting hair across her face and she can't move them away and they're sticking to the blood which is still warm.

Danny? she asks as she tilts her head up but she's too tired to open her eyes so she just waits to hear his voice replying. It sounds strange. Broken and echoing and being blown away on the wind.

She thinks she hears something about a hospital and that's a good idea because she's not feeling very well. But how can Danny get her there? He can't drive yet but they're definitely moving and she suddenly opens her eyes and she sees clouds and the city passing by beneath them in a hazy blur. She doesn't know what to think about that so she looks up at Danny and sees his white hair flapping, tangling with hers.

He looks at her with tears in his eyes and begs her to hold on, promising that they're almost there and help will be coming soon but she doesn't hear a word of it as she finally slips away into the darkness and so he sobs as he holds her tighter and prays he'll be in time.

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**This idea has been in my head for ****_years_****. I think that Maddie would accept Danny (how could she not when he's her ****_son_****) but it would happen a lot faster and less painfully if she happened to somehow miss the 'ghost' bit of the whole equation for a moment. This was how such a moment might come about.**


End file.
